It's All About Family

Cletus Harold Benson, Jr.

My father in law, known by all as Harold, was born on November 4, 1929 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the first born son, to Opal Deane Menser and Cletus Harold Benson.

The earliest record I find for Harold is the 1930 Federal Census. He and his mother Opal were living in Shawnee, Oklahoma with her sister, Zera and husband John Jeffreys, and their five children ages 12 to 3. In the same census, his father, Cletus, while working as a mechanic, was living in Shawnee with his sister, Sylvia Reville, her husband Jack, and their son Bedford, as well as a lodger. I would not be surprised if his parents were separated at this time.

Cletus and Opal got back together at some time after this census because their son Ronald Deane was born on February 17, 1932 in Muskogee when Harold was 2 years and a few months old.

That reunion didn’t last very long because on July 16, 1938, Opal married George Ray Shelton. George was previously married in December of 1931 and divorced in November of 1934.

After they were married, George’s employment with the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad took him from away from home. He was also employed by Phillips Petroleum in 1940 and was living in Phillips, Texas. This employment information is on his World War II draft card and on the 1940 census.

In the 1940 Federal Census, Opal, George, and Harold, who is 10 years old, were living in Shawnee at 403 South Pennsylvania Street. But as mentioned above, George is living in Texas and working for Phillips Petroleum. Younger brother Ronald, who would be 8 years old is not listed.

If you read my story about Harold’s wife, Wanda Armstrong, you might remember they were married in February of 1949 when Wanda was a senior in high school and Harold was in the Army Air Force and stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. It looks like Harold and Wanda met at Meeker high school when Harold enrolled as a junior in March of 1947. According to the 1950 census, however, his schooling ended here.

Harold and Wanda were living in Berkeley, California with Opal, George, and Ronald during the 1950 Federal Census when the information was collected in April of that year. Harold worked with George as an apprentice pipe fitter for the Steam Railway Company, where George was a Machinist Inspector.

But, by September of that year, Harold and Wanda were once again in Meeker and Wanda gave birth to their daughter Linda in December of 1950.

There is no census, or any town directories to tell me what Harold did for a living after moving back to Oklahoma. But I found a newspaper article for May 1953 in the Shawnee News-Star. An Assembly of God group attended a young people’s rally at the Sparks Assembly of God church. Sparks is about 24 miles north of Shawnee. A quartet comprised of 4 people, including Harold Benson sang “Come Unto Me”. I recall hearing him sing and he had a nice voice.

In October of 1953, a group of Assembly of God members traveled again to Sparks when one of their members, Harold Benson, preached and the quartet sang a song. One of the members of the quartet, and also a preacher, was James Odell, his cousin Venita’s husband. Venita’s mother, Zenas, aka Mrs. Lester Curtis, and his mother, Opal were sister and whenever Opal traveled back to Oklahoma, their names were included in the newspaper articles announcing their visits.

With this knowledge of Harold’s occupation, this photo takes on new significance. Wanda is being baptized and that is Harold standing off to the right. The man baptizing her is likely the Reverend C.W. (Charley Washington) Decker of the Assembly of God Church. I wish besides the name on the back of the photo, someone wrote the year it was taken, but if it was 1953 or 1954, Wanda was 23 and Harold, 25.

*Back of photo: Harold and Wanda date unknown*

In 1954, there were a few more articles mentioning Assembly of God services with Harold giving a sermon but after December of 1954, although C.W. Decker is still the Reverend, there was no mention of Harold or James Odell.

I know that by March of 1958, Harold, Wanda, and Linda were back in California and living at 5764 Vicente Street in Oakland when Mark (my husband) was born. Through some outside the box research, I discovered Opal and George were living in the other side of the duplex at 5766.

*Directory listing for George and Opal in 1957*

*5764 and 5766 St. Vicente Street Oakland*

In the last two years of the 1950s, the family would be at two different addresses. The first, at 1700 41st Avenue in Oakland was the address put on Mark’s immunization record book. The second, at 1417 46th Avenue, is the updated address on the book.

Mark’s birth certificate listed Harold’s occupation as a bus driver in public transportation which in this case was AC (Alameda County) Transit. This was a good job that could become a lifelong career.

But then, Harold decided to buy a gas station in Calistoga! In January of 1961, he purchased the Shell Station at 1020 Foothill, on the corner of Lincoln and Foothill in Calistoga California from the previous long-time owner, Ray Oxford. Harold had no experience with automobiles or running a business.

I located the family in the Napa directory for 1961 and found them living at 1328 Berry in Calistoga. It was a short distance from the gas station. My husband was 3 years old at this time and so the picture of the house didn’t bring up any memories of that time period.

Things didn’t work out for Harold and the gas station and in November of 1961, he sold the station back to The Shell Corporation. A few weeks later, Shell sold the station back to the previous owner Ray Oxford.

Over the years, the gas station survived floods, fires, and leaking underground storage. In 2014, two men who had a vision, purchased and turned the old gas station into the Tank Garage Winery. Friends of ours, who knew the gas station story, were in Calistoga and went to the winery. They brought Mark a shirt from their visit there.

As I mentioned in Wanda’s story, I believe this was the beginning of the end of their marriage. Wanda filed for divorce in 1962, and was remarried to Paul Reinhart in February of 1963. Given that California required a year between divorce and marriage, the filing definitely happened in January of February.

After the divorce, Harold became a weekend father. Harold taught Mark to fish and they enjoyed spending time through the years fishing together. “A lot of fishing”, Mark said. He also recalls spending a lot of time with him in San Francisco visiting museums or spending time at the wharf.

Harold went back to work as a bus driver for AC Transit and lived in San Leandro area. He worked his way up through the years to instructor and supervisor until his retirement.

He also remarried. Her name was Marilyn but that’s all Mark can remember. I can’t find any marriage or divorce records for Harold and Marilyn. But, in October of 1976, Harold married Margaret McCarthy. They were married for four years, getting divorced in 1980.

He met his fourth wife, Danielle Heath, while they were both working for AC Transit and they were married in June of 1981.

When I first met Harold and Danielle in 1987, they were living in San Leandro and we were in Castro Valley so we got together for dinners and holidays. We moved up north to Healdsburg and we didn’t see them as often but they would drive their motor home up and spend a weekend, especially after Cody was born.

Harold retired from AC Transit and they moved to a houseboat in Brentwood on the Delta. It was small for sure, but they both loved it, and when we visited, we spent time out on the boat on miles of Delta waterway.

A funny story about a stay there – it was Christmas Eve and I was 2 months pregnant with Cody. We drove down from Healdsburg to visit and planned to leave early the next day to continue on to Twain Harte to spend time with Wanda and Paul. After dinner on the houseboat, Mark and I stayed in their motor home parked on top of a levee, and it is always windy out there in the Delta. That motorhome moved so much we were afraid we were going to tip over! We got up, packed our stuff, left a note and got out of there around 3am! We literally had tumbleweeds bouncing up and over our SUV as we drove through the country roads. We laughed then and still laugh about it today. We pulled in to Twain Harte around 5 am, with Harold and Danielle not even knowing we were gone.

*Harold doing one of his favorite things*

In the mid-1990s, they moved to Port Orchard, Washington, just one hour north of Opal and George, and Ronald and his family. We were able to visit them one or two times after they moved there.

Harold, had some health complications and Mark made a trip out to visit with him and his Uncle Ronald in November of 2005. Thankfully he made the trip because Harold passed away the following month.

One of my fondest memories of Harold is when I went into labor with Cody, Harold came to the hospital to wait it out with Mark. He sat in the nurses station all night long. He might have come in to check on me, I don’t remember. Likely he waited for Mark or the nurses to come out with news. After I delivered Cody by c-section the next morning, he went home.

He came to visit us after we moved to Connecticut, once on his own and another time with Opal. He and my father would have very competitive games of Cribbage!

We also shared a love of family history. When I saw him for my last time in November of 2001, we talked about his family and he shared a picture of his grandmother and her four sisters and told me stories that had been passed down to him. He also enjoyed talking about history in general, was well-versed on subjects, and that’s probably where his son gets his interest as well.

It is hard to believe he’ll be gone 21 years this Christmas. He was a kind man and he clearly loved his son. He always made an effort to visit us no matter where we lived and I am grateful that I got to know him.

Wanda Lea Armstrong

As I explore my husband Mark’s side of the family, I’m beginning with his mother, Wanda Lea Armstrong.

Wanda was born September 19, 1931 in Meeker Oklahoma. Meeker was established in 1903 and is at the intersection of Highway 18 and US highway 62. But why does the federal census through the years say South Wichita township and not Meeker? The best I can figure out is the township is a 6 mile x 6 mile grid square of land established during the original land surveys of the Oklahoma Territory and the town of Meeker is within the northern portion of the grid square. So they lived within the township but not specifically Meeker, but the township shares the same zip code and relies on the town for mail delivery.

Wanda was the second born and second daughter of Joseph “Jack” Armstrong and Cleo Vergie Gallaway. her sister Willie Marie was fifteen months older. I have no pictures of Wanda or her sister when they were children but I have found the typical newspaper articles telling of family gatherings with the Armstrong family and friends. They had some nice bonding time together because the next sibling doesn’t arrive until 6-1/2 years later.

In April of 1937, Wanda’s brother Johnny was born. In 1943, another brother, Charles, was born. Finally in 1948, her sister Kathryn was born. What a span! Willie Marie got married in 1948 and Wanda was in her senior year of high school by the time their last sibling was born.

In my opinion, Wanda was a very pretty girl and I think her fellow students thought so too! An article from the Chandler News in 1946, says Wanda, as a Freshman, was crowned “Basketball Queen”. Four contestants were nominated by the pep squad and basketball team. Votes were a penny a piece. Wanda won and she was escorted to her throne and received her crown from the basketball captain Earl Welker.

*Wanda (sophomore) on left dark curly hair*

Wanda also played basketball and was a member and treasurer of the Future Homemakers of Oklahoma Club.

I don’t know when or where Wanda met her future husband, Cletus Harold Benson, Jr. but maybe she caught his eye at the diner where she worked.

Harold, as he was known, was born and raised in Shawnee, Oklahoma, a short 13 miles south of Meeker located in Pottawatomie County. Harold was the son of Opal Dean Menser and Cletus Harold Benson and his story will come at another time.

Wanda and Harold were married in February of 1949 when Wanda was a senior in high school and Harold was in the Air Force and stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Once Wanda finished high school, she joined Harold in San Antonio Texas, about a 7-1/2 hour drive by today’s highways from Meeker. The newspaper documented one visit by Wanda in December of 1949.

After Harold’s discharge from the Air Force, they moved to Berkeley, California and were living with Harold’s mother Opal, his step-father George Shelton, and Harold’s brother Ronald who was 18. Wanda was also 18 and working as a car hop at a drive-in restaurant. According to the census, Opal was the manager and cashier, and Ronald worked at the soda fountain. George and Harold worked for a “steam railway company”, most likely Southern Pacific Railroad where George was a Machinist Inspector and Harold an Apprentice Pipefitter.

There seems to be a bit of travel between the two states because by September of 1950, Wanda and Harold were living in Meeker Oklahoma where their daughter, Linda Darlene was born in December. Then living in California in December of 1951, and back in Meeker in July of 1952.

*Visiting from California in December 1951. Mrs. Curtis is Harold’s aunt*

*Living again in Meeker in July of 1952*

There are no city directories later than 1935 for Shawnee, Oklahoma and none for Meeker, so I’ve continued to rely on newspaper articles. In a 1952 article for a bridal shower, Wanda was one of the hostesses of the event held in Meeker. The bride was employed by the Bank of Meeker and since Wanda worked for various banks in California when they moved there permanently, I’m going to guess she worked with the bride, Miss Wanda Bolt.

The newspaper trail runs cold, but first this newspaper article. Wanda, along with some friends and family members, laced up their sneakers and played a charity basketball game against the Sparks (Oklahoma) Ladies team with proceeds to be given to the Polio Foundation. This was a fun article to find!

There is a blank space of two years before their son, Mark Aaron (my husband), is born in Berkeley California in March of 1958 while they are living in Oakland.

In 1960, Wanda’s younger brother, Charles, 17 years old, moved out to California to live with them.

The family lived in Napa for about a year when Harold bought a Shell Service Station in January of 1961. Wanda got a job at the new Calistoga branch of the Bank of America in April of that year.

By November of 1961, Harold gave up the service station business and sold his “vendee, equipment, and stock-in-trade” to Shell Oil Company. His address in the Notice of Intended Sale I found is listed as 3115 Suter Street in Oakland California. Either by then, or shortly afterwards, Wanda filed for divorce.

By 1962, Linda was 11 years old and Mark was four years old. Wanda worked for Wells Fargo Bank and Mark remembers living in Oakland during this time period. It was while Wanda worked at the bank that she met Paul Reinhart a mechanic and partner at Big 3 Tire and Brake in Oakland. On the weekends, he raced his corvette with the Sports Car Club of America.

They began dating and one year after meeting, they were married in Reno, Nevada on February 9, 1963.

The new family moved to San Leandro when Mark began school. Wanda continued to work in banking and spent many years working for Ford Credit in Pleasanton.

The family continued to visit Oklahoma and now Iowa was included in the travels to visit with Paul’s parents.

*Mr. And Mrs. Reinhart visiting the family in California*

In 1972, Paul and Wanda purchased a small cabin in Twain Harte, a town in the foothills of the Sierras as a weekend getaway. They enjoyed their time there and purchased a larger home a few streets away. Paul and Mark could ride motorcycles through the woods right out of their garage and the canal carrying water for the Tuolumne Water district ran right above their home. It was a great place to walk. They moved there full time around 1993.

*Wanda and Paul at the Cabin in Twain Harte*

I met Wanda in 1987 when I moved to California to live with Mark. Imagine hearing that someone your son met on vacation was moving across the country to live with him! Luckily, we liked each other. We spent many weekends in Twain Harte rocking in the two chairs in her room, talking and watching television. She was a good grandmother to our son, hovering over him feeding him whatever he wanted. She enjoyed shopping and many weekends we would all “head down the hill” to wander through the department stores and the used book store.

She was diagnosed with cancer in March of 1996 and passed away in October of that year in Twain Harte at the age of 64. A memorial service was held for her in Meeker, Oklahoma on July 1, 1998 (28 years ago as I write this) and her ashes were interred with her parents at the New Salem Cemetery located just outside Meeker. The majority of Armstrong and Gallaway family members are buried there.

Just like my mother, she left us too early.

Shaking More Branches

I haven’t fully exhausted researching my side of the family tree, but I think it’s time to explore my husband’s lines. Those limbs take us back from present day Oklahoma, through middle America as land became available in Illinois, skipping back into Newport, and out colonial Virginia and North Carolina back over the ocean to where it all began in Scotland, Wales, and England. Much research has already been done, but it is new to me.

I wrote a little bit about his family here, as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series in 2024. Now, I will be profiling specific ancestors, starting with his parents.

I’m excited to put their stories along with mine!

*Benson Family Crest – if God is for us, who could be against us*

I created a family tree a few years ago for Mark’s birthday and I had to break it up in four sections because of the number of ancestors!

A Military Life Through Postcards

While writing my Uncle Connie’s story, I was drawn to my mother’s postcard collection that included cards he sent from various military locations.

After organizing them by location and date, with the help of Google AI, I was able to put together a timeline of his service.

Connie completed his draft card on October 16, 1940, when he was 20 years old, and was drafted on November 10, 1942.

Fort Devens, Massachusetts

First up was his induction at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, in November of 1942. Fort Devens served as a massive reception center for the Northeast. It was built in 1917 for the First World War. My grandfather, Charles Jakiela, was stationed there and trained before he headed off to France. Connie went through Basic Training, which included physical and aptitude testing, received his uniform, learned how to salute, and was assigned his service number.

When his file hit the Quartermaster’s desk, that man was very happy! As an experienced baker, Connie was highly prized. The Army desperately lacked experienced tradesman to work and train the thousands of new draftees. As a commercial baker, he already had “muscle memory” for scaling recipes, managing proofing times, and troubleshooting bad dough. Connie was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, and sent to Camp Swift outside of Austin, Texas. He entered basic training as a Private but left as a Corporal.

Camp Swift, Bastrop, Texas

He arrived at Camp Swift in Bastrop, Texas, in early 1943 with Company C, 612th Quartermaster Bakery. The 612th Quartermaster Battalion was a massive parent organization comprising a Headquarters Company and four distinct baking companies, A, B, C, and D, totalling roughly 600 to 800 men. They all trained together in one place under a single Colonel. As a Corporal, he was given a leadership role and his own squad of men. He had to physically teach his squad the mechanics of scaling recipes, managing yeast fermentation, and handling heavy kitchen tools safety. Based on his skills, within 3 months of being there, he was promoted to Sargeant. This meant he was no longer just an assistant instructor, he was the Boss, fully responsible for an 8 to 12 man baking shift or an entire mobile oven section. He was also responsible for calculating the entire chemistry of the bake. He had to adjust ingredients for the brutal Texas humidity, trouble shoot mechanical failures on the gasoline mixers, and ensure his crew didn’t burn the rations! The camp was known for its harsh, dust-choked terrain.

Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio Texas

Sometime in late May or early June of 1943, Connie and Company C were moved to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, for advanced logistical maneuvers. His training here would have included large-scale field exercises under the U.S. Third/Fourth Armies. The company had to prove it could feed an entire moving division. They practiced rolling their mobile baking trailers into the Texas brush, setting up camouflaged operations in the middle of the night, baking thousands of rations under strict “blackout” conditions, and packing them onto trucks for delivery to infantrymen on the mock front lines, all while mimicking gas attacks or air raids. He was a long way from Heilman’s Bakery on Center Street in Wallingford, Connecticut.

*Camp layout, postcards to Connie, his Corporal/Technician 5th Class (2 stripes and T), and his Sergeant/Technician 4th Class (3 stripes and T)*

In late 1943 and early 1944, the army realized that a massive 800-man battalion was too slow and clumsy to deploy to shifting front lines. They divided up the battalions, and Connie’s section was broken off, reorganized, and renamed the 158th Quartermaster Bakery Company. It was a streamlined independent unit of just 150 to 180 men commanded by a single Captain.

The 612th QM had been a centralized, stationary mass production designed to set up one massive, permanent bakery at a major rear-base depot far behind the lines and bake bread for an entire fixed region. The new 158th QM was designed to be extremely mobile. The Pentagon could attach them to a moving field army or a specific Corps. They could pack their trucks, board ships, landing craft, or trains, and rapidly move from location to location, setting up mobile bakeries right behind advancing combat troops.

Camp Pickett, Virginia

Connie’s first stop as part of the 158th QM was to Camp Pickett, Virginia, where they began their independent field training maneuvers. I have three postcards from this time period, dated June 4, 1944, June 15th, and one unreadable date. The 158th QM was part of the XVIII Corps, comprised of thousands of men, containing multiple divisions and support units.

If the June 4, 1944 date rings any bells, Camp Pickett was a premier staging and training base for the June 6th D-Day invasions for the East Coast Ports of Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia. The camp was in a state of hyper-vigilance as entire divisions had just finished rolling through the base to head to the ports. In preparation for heading to Europe, Connie and the 158th QM would have continued their field-baking maneuvers out in the woods and fields to simulate operating under combat conditions, as well as forced marches with full combat gear.

During his time as part of the XVIII Corps, Connie wore this patch on his uniform. The Corps was originally activated as the II Armored Corps, but was redesignated as the XVIII Corps in October of 1943. It became the XVIII Airborne Corps in August of 1944 and it went on to participate in major European campaigns, including the Battle of the Bulge. After August 1944, the dragon would be squared with AIRBORNE curved across the top.

By the June 15th postcard, news of the successful Normandy landing would have reached the troops, and the mood at the base shifted dramatically.

But, plot twist! Because the war in Europe was progressing rapidly after D-Day, the Pentagon began shifting freshly trained independent units to the Pacific Theater, where logistics were a nightmare and thousands of troops staging on islands needed to be fed. Connie and his 158th QM Bakery were on their way overseas, but over the Pacific Ocean, not the Atlantic. They packed up and headed to the Desert Training Center and its general depot in San Bernardino, California. His postcards now include the line “APO 181”. Army Post Office, designated for deployed military personnel. His family would not know where he was, only that he was “deployed”.

But when did they leave Virginia for San Bernardino? All of his postcards with APO addresses, have no postmarks. But I had a possible clue. There is a postcard postmarked Chicago on September 4, 1944 from my mother, who was on her way to visit her Tanta Lizzie and Uncle Ben in Los Angeles, to her sister Tootsie back home. It says in part, “…Had a surprise in N.Y., Connie was there. More later”. Was he on his way to San Bernardino with his Bakery Company? Was he on leave before heading out? It appears he didn’t visit Wallingford or call home. I’ll never know the situation, but the time frame of leaving Camp Pickett and heading to San Bernardino lines up with this card.

San Bernardino, California

Camp Young, outside of Indio, was the headquarters for the Desert Training Center, also known as the California-Arizona Maneuver Area. It was comprised of eleven camps in California and Arizona, along with its general depot in San Bernardino. The DTC was created in the Spring of 1942 for soldiers to practice in climate similar to Northern Africa. Since fighting in that area lasted only 6 months, the focus was switched from desert warfare to general military training for the European and Pacific Theaters. The San Bernardino DTC base general depot served them all. The depot utilized the rail yards, fairgrounds and warehouses in San Bernardino to route supplies and mail into the desert camps.

In addition to the general depot, Connie and the 158th QM Bakery Company continued their training at one of the DTC camps with final high-heat conditioning and waterproofing of the heavy machinery before they headed overseas.

Family Worries

For the last year and a half, the family has received postcards from Connie. First Fort Devens, then Camp Swift, Fort Sam Houston, where my mom and Aunt Tootsie traveled to visit him, and on to Camp Pickett in Virginia. Receiving a card from Virginia in the days leading up to D-Day might have come as a shock and raised concerns that he would be heading to Europe. What did they think when they suddenly started receiving postcards from California, with an APO number, knowing things were heating up in the Pacific?

Something that would have amplified the family’s concern about this location change was the death of Connie’s cousin, George Burghardt, in the line of duty. Twenty-two-year-old George was somewhere in France when he was hit by fragments from an artillery shell. This resulted in a fracture to his skull with brain damage on July 8, 1944. His body arrived home on July 19th, with a funeral held the following day.

It all became too much. Early on December 28, 1944, Connie’s father, while working overnight as a janitor at the steel mill, went into the plant manager’s office and took one of the guns stored there and shot himself in the head. The chief guard said he had come to work in good spirits, but the newspaper reported he may have been “brooding about the dangers that might befall his son, who was believed to be stationed in New Guinea.” My grandfather suffered from depression, like other members of his family, and the worry for Connie compounded his illness.

I don’t know if Connie learned of his father’s death while he was gone or once he arrived back in the United States. If he arrived in California in September or October of 1944, and didn’t head to Guam until June or July of 1945, there would have been ample time for him to be notified, but not likely able to leave for the funeral.

Overseas

The 158th QM Bakery was sent to the Island of Guam, where they operated mobile ovens to feed thousands of troops assembling the planned invasion of mainland Japan, and their address changed to APO 182. The 182 activity date is listed as July 4, 1945, but they would have been preparing for and in transit long before that. Considering Guam was not recaptured from Japan until July 21, 1945, Connie and his 158th QM Bakery may have been feeding the troops while the fighting was going on or they were still enroute.

Once on the ground, to move a single company’s equipment, it took a fleet of 45 GMC 2-1/2 ton “Deuce and a half” tactical trucks. A full bakery company had 32 M-1942 bake ovens, 16 gasoline mixers, and 64 insulated fermentation cans to hold the rising dough. The ovens had two sections, with each section weighing 550 pounds!

*45 of these trucks for one bakery company*

The following information comes from the Facebook Group, WW2 field Kitchen: “Because the Pacific climate was brutal, his platoon operated inside massive, sweltering Quartermaster Blackout Tents. Under strict tactical camouflage, they worked in rotating 24-hour shifts. They would load the gasoline mixers, dump in the flour, monitor the yeast fermentation in the insulated cans, manually punch down and scale the dough into standardized pans, slide them into the lower proofing boxes, and then bake them on the top decks. The resulting fresh, soft loaves were packed into canvas bags and rushed straight to the front lines by jeep, providing a massive, comforting taste of home to combat troops weary of eating cold canned rations.”

Upon Japan’s surrender, the 158th QM was deployed to Tokyo-Kanagawa District, Japan, to set up garrison bakery operations for the incoming U.S. Occupation Forces, and their mailing address changed back to APO 181 with an activity date of November 1, 1945. Nearly three years since being drafted.

Based on his length of service and his overseas time, Connie had a high number of points based on the Army’s “Advanced Evaluation Detachment Points system which allowed him to be relieved of duty in late November or Early December of 1945. He and any other qualifying soldiers boarded a packed troop transit ship and endured a multi-week winter voyage across the Pacific back to a West Coast port. On landing, he was immediately placed on a troop train to the East Coast and sent to a Separation Center close to home. On January 10, 1946, he officially received his Honorable Discharge, final pay, and veterans’ credentials and returned home to Wallingford, Connecticut.

Wallingford, Connecticut

Connie went home to Wallingford, Connecticut where he spent the rest of his years baking. He spent a short time working for Choate School, owned his own bakery (Connie’s Bake Shop) for a few years, and in 1959, settled in as the baker for Masonic Home and Hospital. He filled the bellies of family, friends, and co-workers until his death in November of 1981.

*Betty, Lou, Connie, Tootsie, Judy Posluszny 1978*

Conrad James Posluszny

My Uncle Connie was the second-born child and first son of my grandparents, Julianna Ingram and Konrad Posluszny. He was born in Yonkers, New York, on November 12, 1910. He was a “junior” but it didn’t show up in official records except for his enlistment paperwork and the 1940 census.

He was 15 years old when the family made their move to 121 Clifton Street in Wallingford, Connecticut. His World War II enlistment record says his level of education was grammar school, which would mean he didn’t continue school when they moved to Wallingford and that is consistent with what I was told by family.

*Connie and my mother, Betty He was 12 years older than her*

Connie inherited his mother’s baking skills. He may have been working as a baker for a few years but, he first appears in the Wallingford town directory in 1931 at 21 years old, working as a baker for Charles Heilman, who had a shop at 12 Pearl Street. If you’re from Wallingford and never heard of this street, Pearl Street was across from the Stanley Judd Factory, and some time later, it was renamed Judd Square.

He continued working for “Old Man Heilman” for another four years. He briefly worked as a drop operator for the International Silver Company’s factory in 1937, but by 1939, he was baking again with Mr. Heilman at their new location of 363 Center Street.

At the age of 29, and while an employee of Heilman’s Bakery, Connie filled out his draft card in October of 1940. His enlistment occurred on his birthday in 1942 and by November 30, 1942, he found himself at Fort Devens in Ayers, Massachusetts. His postcard tells his parents, “Can you imagine me making my bed, well I do now. It’s not to hard at all here. I will write a letter the first chance I get. Connie”

*Mal Bellafronto, Konrad with Lou’s son John, Lou, and Connie Posluszny about Summer 1942*

The pictures above were from the time before he left for Fort Devens in 1942 based on the ages of the children in the pictures as Judy was born in 1939.

From Fort Devens, he headed to Camp Swift, outside Austin Texas in early 1943, then to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio Texas in mid 1943. This is where he was stationed when my mother and Aunt Tootsie went to visit him.

Early June of 1944, found him at Camp Pickett in Virginia. From there, he headed to Camp Young outside of Indio California which was a Desert Training Center. Through a more thorough review of all the postcards he sent home, and with the help of Google AI, I have a good picture of his military service, which I will write about in my next post.

When my grandfather died in December of 1944, the newspaper said Connie had recently been sent to New Guinea. My cousin Judy, my fellow family genealogist, wrote about his time in World War II in her family memories in 1995. She wrote, “During World War II, Uncle Connie cooked in field kitchens all over the European front, serving hot meals to the troops when they could. I remember him talking about setting up and being ready to serve a meal, and they had to pull up stakes because the enemy had moved and were getting too close.” This passage falls into line with my more in-depth research, so I’m glad I went back to Judy’s family memoir.

He was released from service on January 10, 1946 and by 1947, he was back home and once again a baker. However, Judy wrote that, “when he returned from the war, he went back to work for the Heilmans, but after a few years he decided to move on and went to work for some hotels in the Pocono Mountains.” I have postcards in my mother’s collection from him during that time period. I didn’t realize he was working there. The directories for 1947 and 1949 only say “baker”.

In 1951 and 1953, he was working as a baker for Choate School. He tried his hand at owning his own shop, Connie’s Bake Shop at 96 Quinnipiac Street, for a few years from 1955 to 1958. Cousin Judy worked there after school and on weekends. Here is what she had to say about Uncle Connie’s bakery: “he worked so hard and so many long hours a day. On weekends, he went to Sunday noon, many’s the time I have seen him sleeping while he was still standing. He was such a perfectionist that he would train people to work with him and then never be satisfied with what they did. He made the best pastry and breads I have ever eaten (they were divine!) and his hard rolls were unbeatable. In fact, his type of hard rolls is still being made today at New York Bakery in Wallingford and have been acknowledged as the best in New England. He gave up the bakery after a few years because to keep up the pace would have killed him but he did not give up his profession.”

Masonic Home and Hospital hired him as their bread and pastry chef and he spent the rest of his career baking for the 900 or so residents and employees. He worked overnight at the hospital baking whatever needed to be made for the following day as well as making the night staff their 1 am dinner. One Mother’s Day he made and frosted 400 cupcakes, “each one with a single, full-blown confectionary rose that he completed by making them for one hour each of the three nights”, according to a 1977 article about him in the local newspaper. All because “they get ice cream every Sunday and I think Mother’s Day is something special.” He continued to live with his mother and sister, Tootsie at 121 Clifton Street.

When my twin and I were born in 1960, he was given the honor of being my godfather.

*Uncle Mal with Gail on left, Uncle Connie with Nancy on right May 1960*

In 1962 at the age of 51, he married Ann Martineck Yasensky, a 52 year old widow with two adult children and three grandchildren. She became our Antie Ann (I’ve spelled it this way for phonetic reasons). We loved her very much and we would come to know her children and grandchildren over the years. They met when he had his bake shop as it was only a block or two from her home. After they married, they lived in her house on Bristol Street and on occasion, my sisters and I would stay over their house when my parents had a rare Saturday night out. I can picture us lying on the floor in front of the television watching Davey and Goliath on Sunday morning! By 1969, they were living in their home on Grandview Avenue, in our neighborhood and two houses away from the park we spent all our summer days at in the town Parks Program. Need a bathroom? Go to Antie Ann and Uncle Connie’s. Hungry? Tired? We knew where to go.

*A holiday at our house – Antie Ann loved to stick out her tongue at us! My mom on left, Uncle Connie on right*

*Siblings: Betty, Lou, Connie, Tootsie, Judy November 1978 at Tootsie’s second marriage*

They lived happily ever after for 19 years until he died of a heart attack in his kitchen at the Masonic Home November of 1981, just a few days short of his 71st birthday. He was the first of my mother’s siblings to pass away and I felt my mother’s sorrow because I think he was her favorite sibling.

Antie Ann remained in their home on Grandview Avenue. When we moved home in 1995, our walks around the block always included a stop at her home to see if she needed anything or to just visit. Eventually, her chronic heart issues caused her to move to Georgia to her daughter and son in law’s home where she passed away in 2004 at the age of 95.

My uncle spent over 50 years of his life baking. His creampuffs, chocolate eclairs, hermit cookies, and previously mentioned hard rolls were out of this world delicious. I can picture them in my head today! He took care of and fed so many people in his lifetime between the bakery, his military service, and in the years following at Choate and Masonic Home. It must be where I developed my sweet tooth. He passed down the love of baking to my cousin Judy who was an amazing cook and baker herself, and to my niece Charlene, with a PhD in Food Science who has been recognized for her USDA-funded research on the sourdough microbiome. Her work focuses on how the unique yeast and bacteria in sourdough starters affect bread quality, digestibility, and health benefits. I can picture Uncle Connie standing over her shoulder as she discusses one component or the other.

Konrad James Posluszny

I was surprised to realize that I haven’t told the story of my grandfather, Konrad James Posluszny. He was the sixth child born to Caroline Straub and Joseph Posluszny on May 3, 1886, in Wildenthal (now Dzikowiec) in the Galicia region of Poland. When he was born, only his older brothers John and Joseph were still alive, two children having died from smallpox and one from dysentery.

Konrad departed Europe through Hamburg on the Blücher on December 6, 1902, and arrived in New York harbor on December 17th. He traveled alone and headed to his brother John on Jefferson Street in Yonkers. Like hundreds of other immigrants, he was listed as a laborer on the ship’s manifest. He was quickly hired at a hat company, which was a booming industry in the early 1900s.

Konrad met and married Julianna Ingram on July 15, 1906, in Yonkers. Time for the family picture! Konrad and Julianna are on the right. I think Konrad is the most handsome of the bunch. But I might just be biased.

*Posluszny /Bonk family late 1907/early 1908*

Konrad is listed in the Yonkers city directories fairly consistently. In 1905, at 41 Jefferson Street to 50 Jefferson Street, to their final residence of 98 Jefferson Street from 1908 through 1921. This would be the location for the birth of their first four children – Antoinette Gertrude, Conrad, Louis, and Julianna.

Antoinette was the firstborn on January 7, 1909, in Yonkers, NY, and this photo is the only one of Konrad and Julianna with any of their children when they were young.

Konrad was an employee of Waring’s, a hatmaker in Yonkers, which was a block and a half from their home on Jefferson Street. In the 1905 directory, he’s listed as a Presser. Pressers worked with steam, heat, and heavy hydraulic machinery to press and shape felt (often made from rabbit or beaver fur) into the final form of a hat. Come to find out, these were the men who worked with toxic mercury nitrate, which could lead to chronic mercury poisoning. In other directories, he’s listed as an employee or a hatter still at Waring’s.

Konrad became a naturalized citizen of the United States on April 29, 1921. It was also in 1921 that something unthinkable happened. Julianna had a relationship with a cousin whose connection to her I still haven’t fully determined, but possibly first or second cousin, and she became pregnant with my mother. Did Konrad know? Was he suspicious? I don’t know. But Konrad, Julianna, and their four children moved north to Easthampton, Massachusetts sometime in mid to late 1921.

From there, they moved to New Britain, Connecticut, where they lived in one of the apartments of Julianna’s relative at 15 Derby Street. My mother, Elizabeth, was born on April 5, 1922.

In New Britain, my grandfather opened up a hat store called the Conrad Hat Company, and in 1923, it was at 43-45 Broad Street before moving to 317 Main Street. In 1924, he applied for a patent on a cleaning solution for straw hats and was awarded it in 1925. I don’t know if he ever made any money from it, but he still holds the patent. Unfortunately, in the summer of 1924, in the span of two weeks, there were fires in his store, and that was the end of his hatting career.

*Konrad’s patent, articles on hat store fires*

The family moved to Wallingford in 1925, and they purchased a new home at 121 Clifton Street. Konrad was hired at the Wallingford Steel Mill, which was practically in their backyard. The railroad tracks for the cars from the steel mill to meet up with the main tracks ran along the side of their house, and the rumble and shriek of brakes during the night was enough to wake the dead. His job in 1935 was a roller, someone who manually guided the red-hot sheets through the roller with tongs and steel forks. I wonder if it brought back memories of his job as a presser at the hat factory. In the following years, he was a gateman, and in the last directory before he died, a janitor.

My Aunt Tootsie (Antoinette, the firstborn) told a story about a gypsy who told her father he would die by a gun. “This is why he didn’t allow guns in the house”, she told us. Unfortunately, he got access to a gun in the late night or early morning hours of December 28, 1944, at his job as a janitor at the steel mill. It was a self-inflicted gunshot to the head from a .38 revolver. He was found by the chief guard at 5:30 in the morning. No one in the family could give any reason for this act, but other newspaper articles say he was concerned for his son Conrad’s safety in the Army, having recently been sent to New Guinea. He was given a high funeral mass and buried in the family plot in St. John Cemetery.

*Left to right: Konrad and Judy, with son Connie, with family*

Obviously, he didn’t die by a gun because a gypsy said he would! He suffered from severe depression. Aunt Tootsie casually mentioned how he was able to “have beer when he was in the hospital” because the doctor said he needed it. She never mentioned why he was in the hospital, and I never asked, but depression was something that ran in the family and affected a younger brother and a younger sister.

He was gone for 16 years before I was born, and would have only been 74 years old if he had lived. I wish I had met him. We never talked about him or his death with my mother and it wasn’t until the late 1990s that I would sit with Aunt Tootsie and she would share the photos and stories as she remembered them. Such precious time lost.

A conversation with my Aunt Judy about Julianna and Konrad gives some more in-depth stories about them.

The Mikula Boys

I wrote about the Mikula Family in April of 2024, and at the end, I said I would tell you about Walter and Stanley, the two oldest boys in the family.

Quick recap, Aniela Liro Mikula was my grandmother Antonia’s older sister. Aniela and her husband, Josef, immigrated to the United States in 1903. Walter was born in 1903, and Stanley in 1904, about 18 months apart.

The Mikula children and the Jakiela children were not similar in age at all. My Uncle Steve was born in 1913, and Uncle Eddie in 1915, and they were the two oldest. The other three Jakiela siblings were born in 1920, 1922, and 1924. So even before Helen was born in 1920, three Mikula boys had died, as well as Aniela. I still marvel that my grandfather and Uncle Steve were able to lean on Josef to take Helen and Walter when their mother died in 1927, and again in 1935 when my grandfather died. The stories from Auntie Helen and Uncle Eddie were invaluable to my research and I’m so thankful that I had those conversations with them.

My Auntie Helen told me that the Mikula brothers lived with their family in Wallingford for a while, but they were “trouble” and her brother Steve told them to leave.

*John, Walter Mikula, Walter Jakiela* *– after 1935, location unknown.*

While searching Newspapers.com, I uncovered several newspaper articles recounting charges against Walter of drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Sometimes alone, and sometimes with Stanley. The most egregious charge was against both of them in September 1934 for drunkenness and assaulting their 54-year-old father and 19-year-old sister, Kazmiera. Just terrible! I found additional articles for Walter’s drunken escapades after that incident.

A copy of Walter’s 1942 Draft Card has six addresses written and crossed out. Two of those addresses are locations in Waterbury, Connecticut. Another Auntie Helen story was that Walter worked for the New Haven railroad and coming back from a wedding he was driving and killed someone. The family attached his wages so he quit his job and took jobs they “couldn’t keep track of”.

Well, karma took care of that. The last article I found was for a car accident that occurred on Route 7 in Georgetown, Connecticut, on August 17, 1946. A man by the name of Walter J. Mikula, age 43, a resident of Bridgeport, died instantly in a car accident when the car went out of control and crashed into a tree. The driver sustained injuries. Take note, the accident occurred at 7:30 am. A subsequent article in the Record-Journal in October said the driver was criminally liable for Walter’s death.

I took the information from the articles, put on my Nancy Drew sleuthing cap, and tracked down where the death certificate would possibly be located. I’d forgotten there was even a Georgetown Connecticut! I made a call to the Wilton town clerk’s office and they had it there. $20 and I had it within the week.

A sad ending for a sad life.

Stanley appeared to get his life together. In 1936, He married Godaline Kowalski. They had a son, Edward, born in 1938, and a son, Ronald, born in 1942. Stanley worked for American Steel and Wire Company for many years, and they lived in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Stanley died at the VA Hospital in Rutland, Vermont, on January 19, 1964, at the age of 59. He had been confined there since September 1963. There is no record that he was a veteran of any war, so I’m not sure why he would have been there.

Early in my research journey, I sent out a lot of letters to names and addresses I found online. People, churches, cemeteries, anyone I could think of. I even dragged my sister and our kids up to the Palmer Library to go through their historical information.

One letter in 2000 to Stanley Mikula somehow made it to Godaline who was now 94 and in a nursing home. She wrote back and we exchanged a few letters but unfortunately, I never went to visit her.

*Stanley, Frank, Walt* – *photo from Godaline*

Godaline passed away in 2006.

This is the end of the line for the family of Aniela and Joseph Mikula but I continue to try and connect to the DNA matches and will keep shaking those family trees!

More On The Mikula Family

Back in April of 2024, I wrote about the Mikula Family and my family’s connection to them. Aniela, the mother, was my grandmother Antonia Jakiela’s sister. Their maiden name was Liro.

I promised more about the sons, Walter and Stanley, but it’s taken a couple of years to get back to them. Which could be a good thing, because new search methods and new information continue to turn up. I’m going to share updates about the family members, but will still do a separate story on the sons.

Aniela, their mother, died in May of 1919 at the age of 48, from Tuberculosis of the bone, which caused gangrene of the spine. I didn’t give that much thought until I started on their story. Tuberculosis of the Bone is considered a serious extrapulmonary infection where the mycobacterium tuberculosis spreads from the lungs or lymph nodes to the bones and joints via the lymph nodes. The spine is the most frequent site and is called Pott’s Disease.

After Aniela died in 1919, Joseph married Anna Cerak, likely to help raise the younger children. My Auntie Helen remembers her as being very nice. Anna died in 1934. Joseph moved to Worcester and lived with Stanley and his wife until he died in 1945 at the age of 66.

This is the only picture of Joseph Mikula I have. When my grandfather, Charles Jakiela, died in May of 1935, my dad John and my uncle Walt went to Thorndike for the summer. John had turned 11 and Walt was turning 13 that year.

*Uncle Joe Mikula with Walt and John Jakiela*

Catherine, born in 1907, third born, and first daughter, was hospitalized for at least four years at the Hampshire County Sanatorium with tuberculosis, where she died in September of 1934. She was an inmate there in the 1930 federal census. Her obituary listed her father and two sisters, Genevieve in Vermont and Kazimiera in Palmer, and two brothers, Walter and Stanley. My Auntie Helen remembered Catherine from the time she spent in Palmer after her mother, Antonina died in 1927. Catherine would have been 27 years old and they, my aunt and uncle Walt, who were 7 and 5 years old at time, called her Aunt Catherine because she was so much older than them.

Bronislaw, born in 1909, the fourth born and third son, was listed in the 1910 federal census, but that was all I could find. Recently, I found a Palmer, Mass. death record for “Bronislaw M??l??R”, Father: Joseph, Mother: Allen Lera. It shows that Bronislaw died in July of 1910, at 18 months old, of gastroenteritis, which can be caused by contaminated food or water.

Genevieve, born in 1911, was the fifth born and second daughter and was the child with the longest life. She married George Blakey in 1930 and moved to Vermont, where he was a farmer. They had five children, 3 girls and 2 boys, between the ages of 12 and 14 months when he died at the age of 34 in 1943 after being in the hospital for 2 weeks “for treatment after a long period of ill health”. Genevieve continued to live in Underhill, Vermont, raising her children, and she died in 1983 at the age of 71 from breast cancer. Those five children produced 20 grandchildren.

Zofia, born in 1913, was the seventh born and third daughter. I have found Zofia in the Palmer birth records. I also have a copy of her baptism certificate. But that’s it. She’s not in the 1920 census, and there’s no mention of her in any family obituaries. I don’t know that I’ll ever find out what happened to her. She would have been about 14 years old when my aunt and uncle were living with them in 1927. My aunt said a daughter was called Tootie and she didn’t like her step mother at all. I wonder if Tootie was Zofia.

Kazimiera, born in 1915, was the eighth born and fourth daughter. I originally found Kazimiera in the 1920 census at 5 years old and in the 1930 census at 15, but nothing after that. When I found Joseph’s obituary online and saw the name “Mary Opielowski” I thought who else could it be but her? It was her.

Kazimiera and her husband, Edward, were married sometime in the early 1930s because the 1940 census says Edward, 26, and “Kay”, 24, were living in the same home as in 1935. I haven’t found any marriage records, but one might pop up. Kazimiera gave birth to a son, David, in 1941.

Kazimiera committed suicide in 1956, leaving behind her husband, son, sister Genevieve, and her brother Stanley. Walter was not listed in the obituary.

*Kazimiera’s obituary (transcribed here)*

Her husband Edward died in 1981, and their son David died in 2001; it appears he never married, but they both remained in Thorndike, Massachusetts.

Antoni, born in 1917, the eighth born and fourth son, died in August of 1918 when he fell down a well. He was 18 months old.

This was not the only tragedy that summer. Mieczyslaw, born in 1918, the ninth born and fifth son, the baby of the family, died one month after Antoni from infant cholera when he was six months old. Cholera, “a disease of poverty”.

Next up – Walter and Stanley

Gouesnou US Memorial Update

In late August of 2025, I wrote about the permanent memorial to US soldiers being planned in Gouesnou France.

One of the soldiers was a cousin’s grandfather. His mother’s father died in Gouesnou during World War II when she was two years old. Because I had her name in my family tree, someone associated with the memorial contacted me, and others, to locate relatives. I’m happy to say my cousin was contacted.

My cousin emailed me this afternoon and sent me pictures from the event. He said it was a very moving ceremony. It is nice to know that soldiers have continued to be honored overseas for over 80 years.

Antoni Jakiela

My great uncle Antoni Jakiela was born in Lubatowa, Poland. Lubatowa is located in southeastern Poland, and from 1772 to 1918 was part of Austrian Galicia. Antoni is my grandfather Charles Jakiela’s younger brother.

Antoni was born on January 17, 1893, to Ignacy and Catherine Murdzek. Charles was three years old when he was born. Their sister Agnieszka was born a year later.

Their mother died in June of 1894, the same year Agnieszka was born. Trying to raise three young children, Ignacy, at only 39, quickly remarried. On October 11, 1894, he married Victoria Borek. There is no record of any children from that marriage, but I continue to scour records.

When his brother Charles left for the United States in 1906 at the age of 16, Antoni was 13.

Both brothers served in World War 1. Charles served for the United States from Southington, Connecticut, through Camp Devens at Ayer, Massachusetts, as part of the 301 Trench Mortar Battery and the 302 Field Artillery.

Antoni served in World War 1 with the Polish Legion based on this picture that has been in the family for many years. I shared the picture with a few Polish Heritage/Genealogy groups on Facebook and was told that it is a uniform for the Polish Legion based on the “maciejówka” cap and the zig-zag design on his collar. The one silver star on the collar is for the rank of lance corporal. The Polish Legion fought alongside Austria-Hungary troops against Russia. The cap was part of traditional folk attire in many regions of Poland and became part of the Polish Legion uniform. After Poland won its independence in 1918, the cap was thought to look too much like the German WW1 garrison hat, so the Polish army moved to a peaked 4 cornered cap.

This is a 12×14 canvas portrait. Portions of the canvas are still attached to the wooden frame but one corner is secured with a nail. There is a piece of cardboard on the back attached to the frame, and two nails with a heavy string between them for hanging.

How and when was it sent to the United States? Was it received when Charles and his family were still living in Southington after the war? If so, where did it hang in their home? Charles died in May of 1935, and the children, ranging in age from 22 to 10, remained in their Wallingford home until Steve married Bertha Liedke in 1937. The family moved to Ward Street and finally to the Liedke family home. At some point, the portrait ended up in the back of the garage. When I began my ancestry work on the family, my cousin passed the portrait on to me.

The next information I found for Antoni was his marriage to Lucia Dereniovoska (sp) on March 2, 1923. I haven’t been able to find any birth records for Lucia in the Lubatowa area with any similar spelling.

*Antoni Jakiela and Lucia Dereniovoska marriage on March 2, 1923*

This marriage record gives me both of their birth dates, and the #70 house number tells me Antoni is still living in the house his family lived in when he was born in 1893. The bottom of the form, in blue writing, says “husband died 23 January 1961, Lubatowa”. I don’t have any information on Lucia’s death.

An amazing treasure that provided information on Antoni and his family was found while cleaning out my Auntie Helen’s apartment after she passed away in February of 2015. It was a letter from Antoni to Steve, Helen’s oldest brother. The information and questions in the letter indicate that there had been little communication between them. The letter was dated January 19, 1947, almost 12 years after their father and Antoni’s brother Charles had passed away. Of course, the letter was in Polish, and evidently, “old style” Polish, which was difficult for a fluent speaker to translate!

I don’t know if anyone ever responded to Antoni, but without this letter, I never would have known of their three children and their ages.

Antoni was 68 years old when he passed away in January 1961. I don’t know if life got any better in the town of Lubatowa. I hope so.